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daleybox · 2010-04-30, 14:43

I have tvshow.nfo files for all of my tv shows in my collection. In them, they do not have the thumb tabs filled out, but they do have the episodeguide URLS. I'm assuming this zip file included in the URL is downloaded and stored in the DB so all the episodes have information.

My question is, what other files are scraped from the net and stored in the database?

In the folders, I currently have backdrop.jpg, banner.jpg, folder.jpg, and fanart.jpg files. Do any of these get used by XBMC, or do they re-download them as .tbn files?

Also, if I had the thumb and fanart tags in the nfo, would it still download them?

The DB seems to get large when I do series, so I wasn't sure what it was downloading and what I should have in my folders to avoid bloating the DB. It may just be thumbnails, but I was hoping someone with more experience with XBMC could help me.

I'm using the windows version of Win7 x64.

Thanks.

**sho** · (This post was last modified: 2010-04-30, 16:57 by sho.)

Only plain text data is stored in the db (no images).
They are (currently at least) cached in the thumbnails folder.

XBMC will use fanart.jpg, folder.jpg if you use the "use foldernames for lookup" options.
The other images will not affect XBMC at all.

kraqh3d · 2010-04-30, 16:45

Look here for some more detail...
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Imp...rt_Library

You *could* fake out the downloading of external thumbs and fanart images using local nfo files. The nfo file includes urls to the source images. Thus, you *could* run a webserver on top of your filesystem and construct nfo files which include those tags with urls to your own images.

daleybox · 2010-04-30, 18:02

Ok, so the nfo files are stored in the database then probably. They are so small that wouldn't really be an issue. I guess what I'm wondering is what images XBMC is downloading and putting in the thumbnail directories.

Is it grabbing posters, fanart, etc. or simply episode thumbnails in that folder?

I currently have all my movies using the "use foldernames for lookup" option, but not the TV Shows because I have named many of them differently. Maybe that is something I should change, but I was hoping to avoid it.

Thanks for all the info.

daleybox · 2010-04-30, 18:10

I guess another question I would have, which is releated, is what files would I need in the folders with the tv shows so that no scraping was actually needed by XBMC, and it could get everything locally without having to run a webserver or anything. This may not even be an option at this time, but I thought I would check.

**sho** · 2010-04-30, 18:14

nfo files, obviously and all relevant images.
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Thu...Thumbnails
If you want to make sure XBMC never goes online, leave out the episodeguide url tag.

daleybox · 2010-04-30, 19:02

Ok, the for TV Shows if have all the episode nfo files, the folder.jpg and the fanart.jpg, then is the only other file it's looking for the thumbnail.tbn file? It says it will cache it when it is first seen, so if I have it in the folder, does it actually copy it to the thumbnails directory anyway? That would seem to defeat the purpose of having it in the directory if it doubled up the space.

Sorry for all the questions, I'm new and just trying to understand the ins and outs of whether I want to litter all my video file directories with a bunch of extra stuff, or just let the scrapper grab what it needs.

Thanks again.

kraqh3d · 2010-04-30, 20:11

No, nfo files are not stored in the database. Their content is stored in the database. The thumbnail *cache* is full of various images. Look at the link.

They are cached local to Xbmc because media is typically not actually kept on the HTPD server connected to your TV running Xbmc. Caching the images local to Xbmc maintains the GUI responsiveness.

daleybox · 2010-04-30, 21:28

Ok, so since it's going to cache it locally anyway, no real point in storing them in with the video files. Thanks!

One releated performance question, since I'm on the offical 9.11 Windows version, is it hardware accelearated with the ATI Radeon 4200 HD series? Or is that planned for the next version? Does the skin matter for acceleration?

kraqh3d · 2010-04-30, 23:13

I think the only Xbmc native video acceleration for Windows is DXVA2 which would require Win7. (There's also the DSplayer which uses external Direct Show filters.)

On Linux, you have VPDAU for Nvidia and VAAPI for Intel and ATI.

OSX now has support for Apples new VDA.

And the acceleration is ONLY for video playback. It won't make any difference for the GUI or skin.

**sho** · 2010-05-01, 11:21

daleybox Wrote:Ok, so since it's going to cache it locally anyway, no real point in storing them in with the video files. Thanks!

Yes there is, if you want to make sure XBMC uses that image, and no other.